As computers and computer networks become more pervasive in the home and workplace, many old methods for performing everyday tasks are being replaced or streamlined through the use of computer networking technology. For example, many employees are now able to have a virtual presence in their workplace by logging into a computer network maintained by their employer. One of the most striking developments in computer networking technology has been the advent of remote collaboration.
One of the oldest forms of processing data is the meeting or conference, whereby multiple individuals focus their attention on common subject matter to arrive at a joint decision, consensus, or product. Increasingly, such meetings are now taking place in a virtual manner over computer networks through the use of application sharing technologies. Such technologies enable a sharing user to share an application with various viewing users. The display produced by the application running on the sharer's computer is made available via a computer network to the viewers' computers. In some cases, the sharer may pass control of the application to a viewer, whereby the viewer's control inputs are then communicated back to the sharer's computer, where the actions associated with the inputs are executed, and the resulting changed display is shared back out to the viewers.
Although application sharing can play a critical role in maintaining or increasing productivity and cooperation, certain problems with current application sharing systems sometimes create a confusing user experience. For example, computer displays are available in a wide variety of sizes, making it likely that an application sharing sharer and an application sharing viewer will have screens of different sizes. That means that in some instances, a viewer may see on his screen less of an item than is being displayed on a sharing machine display. In such situations, typical application sharing technologies have provided a scrolling facility to the viewer to enable them to access all of the displayed material. However, scrolling in this manner may be distracting or cumbersome to the user and may hinder the success or effectiveness of the application sharing session. While some application sharing technologies have allowed scaling of the entire desktop of the sharer, this technique is extremely CPU intensive, scaling the desktop based on a simple ratio of desktop-sizes from sharer to viewer, often introducing more scaling than is required, and thus making small items difficult to read. Furthermore, no such technologies have enabled a substantially continuous scaling to provide better matching between disparate screen sizes.
A related problem pertains to the sharer's ability to keep the viewer's attention focused on a current document of interest, i.e. the document that the sharer is working in or focusing on. Unfortunately, typical application sharing technologies do not always effectively focus the viewer's attention on the current document of interest to the sharer. Accordingly, while the sharer focuses on one document, the viewer may actually be focused on another.
A system and method are needed whereby the viewer experience of application sharing is improved over prior systems when application sharing participants use different screen sizes, or when the application sharing session involves numerous items, only one of which is currently of interest.